gamblers, though more excitable than such men often are. Three thousand ducats passed between them in less than an hour. Then came the supper.

"Luckily," said a good-natured colonel, who had formerly been in the Russian service, and seen too much of such follies on a grand scale at St. Petersburg to care about them here; "luckily for Costaki there is no imprisonment for debt amongst us: and no one, by our law, can touch his wife's dower, or Costaki would be ruined in a fortnight. His wife would sign away her piano if the law would let her, and they have nothing but her fortune to live on. Three years ago he was himself, also, one of the richest men among us. He has lost everything at idiotic games like this."

Our supper was not so merry as the dinner had been. The actress was at home now, and very much better worth studying. I wish some young people I have known could have seen her with her rouge off and her hair out of curl, tired to exhaustion, captious, dissatisfied, weary-hearted ; they would have no longer seen much attraction in the brilliant life of the theatre. Perhaps no women undergo such severe bodily fatigue as actresses. The wear and tear of mind in learning new parts; the perpetual change of dress; the rehearsals; the jealousies, hatreds, and rivalries; the worrying of managers; the necessity for conciliating authors, orchestra, and notabilities among the public; the makers of reputations; the minute study of detail and stage effect. Poor women! I question if washerwomen work harder. When I got home at last, I did not think that the life of a man of pleasure seemed more desirable from being seen a little longer and more nearly.

We are all very wise and proper, I dare say, when we cry out about the license of actresses; but the fact is, we close the gates of respectable life to them. Our women will

For my

patronize them, but they will not know them. They will receive, but they will not visit them. They have no friends among the respectabilities. We will all agree to give nothing, but a sort of contemptuous toleration. part, I should wonder if actresses did not throw society over, seeing how they are treated by it. Prudence is a very fine thing, and a very wise thing; but there are not many of us

who would have courage enough to practise it, if it could win us neither esteem nor consideration. The other road seems at least easier and pleasanter, so they take it and find out their mistake too late.

CHAPTER XL.

Good nature of the Walla

A Bussian spy. His agreeable manners. chians to strangers pleasingly exemplified. The Agga. Prudent conduct recommended to spies in general. Description of the commonest sort of spy. Spies are strongly recommended to shun fashionable entertainments.

"MONSTROUS agreeable fellow that with the well-made coat/ and stubbly moustaches; speaks French like a Frenchman. Who is he?"

I

"I haven't an idea-some diplomatic swell, I suppose. have heard him speaking five different languages since we entered the room.'

"Odd we can't make him out."

"Very."

There is a general buzz in the room about the distinguished-looking individual indicated by these remarks. Three ladies, one after the other, ask me to present him, under the impression that he is a Briton; when I express my unhappy inability to do their bidding, curiosity has reached its height, for the same request has been made to an Austrian officer, a Prussian author, and to M. de Verville, who knows everybody. And yet our friend is not a Wallachian.

"Nor a Moldavian," says M. de Cantacuzene, who certainly ought to be able to answer that question.

Acquaintances, however, are nowhere made easier than at Bucarest, and the unknown gentleman is soon engaged in the most animated conversation with all sorts of people. He has certainly a winning and agreeable manner, and when he gives some account of himself, of course he will be quite an addition to our society this carnival.

Account or no account, he has certainly made an impression; and those good-humoured Wallachians are walking up and down the room with him, and laughing and talking with him, as if they had been mutually acquainted for the best part of their lives.

Upon my word of honour, the Boyards are vastly civil to strangers. He has been already introduced to half the people in the room, and there is actually the agga (minister of police), the most witty and elegant of our dandies, going up to speak to him.

The agga is a tall spare man, in a well-made uniform, not unlike the undress of our Life Guards. He has been watching the proceedings of the illustrious stranger for some time; and now saunters negligently towards him, as he stands amid a little crowd of talkative admirers. Then the agga tilts his military person gracefully on the point of his left toe, and whispers something quite familiarly into the ear of the great unknown, without even the formality of an introduction. The stranger turns suddenly pale, his lips twitch, and his eyes quail. He stops in the midst of a pungent anecdote, and shortly afterwards leaves the room, crest-fallen exceedingly. Ah! the rogue !" says the agga presently, with the pleasant and gratified air of an angler who has hooked a difficult fish, "I watched him, and knew my man soon enough; he is a soi-disant count, and a Russian spy. It is seldom that they work so daringly as this. Your clever spy should be quiet as a mouse; the servant of a man in office, or a consul's clerk. We do not often look for them in a ballroom, for directly a man shows in society, we are sure to know more about him than he thinks, be he whom he may.

66

CHAPTER XLI.

The Hospodar of Wallachia. His Russian uniform and Turkish manners. He is a well-informed and well-bred gentleman. His reforms and explanations.

THE prince's house is a modest building, with only an open semi-circular court to defend it from the road-side and the inquisitive gazing of the passers by. A sentry, however, parades before each of the great gates, and there is a guardhouse full of soldiers, who turn out with beat of drum whenever the Hospodar rides abroad.

Two aides-de-camp in waiting receive us. They are dressed in Russian sort of uniforms. They are slim, smiling, gentlemanly men. There are also several servants in scarlet liveries, and two splendidly dressed Albanians. The latter greet me with all the easy familiarity and good-will of their race, a race of free lances whose hope is in the sword.

We passed through one or two simply-furnished rooms, and soon make our bow to the princess, who is seated on a sofa, surrounded by some Austrian officers of high rank.

She is a charming and gifted lady. It was a privilege to talk with her, and she received us with distinguished courtesy merely as Englishmen. After the last guest had arrived, Prince Stirbey came in. He is certainly the youngest man of his age I ever saw; he is also polished and courteous to a degree. I think he had something the manners of a Turkish pasha of high rank, who had had an embassy in Europe. For the rest, he was dressed in the uniform of a Russian colonel of cavalry: blue, with red facings, and silver epaulettes. He wore a silver star, and the Turkish order of the Nisham in brilliants. His figure is slight and elegant, his hair perfectly and naturally black and curly, his eye bright and keen. He is as upright as a dart at sixty!

He received us with marked attention, placing us on his left side at dinner, while Mahmoud Pasha, the Turkish chief authority, sat on his right. He addressed nearly the whole of his conversation to us, and he spoke very reasonably and well on every subject discussed. He had an intimate know

ledge of the state of parties, and the characters of public men in England; he understood our institutions thoroughly, and made some very able comments upon them.

The dinner was the usual mixture of Russian and French. It was carefully served, and the wines were excellent, especially the Madeira. A capital brass band played between the courses. The prince said that the musicians were all Wallachians, and that they had been educated under his directions, with a view to establish a good school of music at Bucarest.

After dinner we passed a few minutes with the princess, and then went into an inner room, which was fitted up with divans for smoking. Immediately we entered, the prince rose from the sofa on which he had been sitting, and made way for us beside him. After we had smoked a single pipe, and that by no means so splendid an affair as usual in other parts of Turkey, though the mouth-pieces were, I noticed, made of the costly black Wallachian amber, the guests rose to go. I was about to depart also, but the prince laid his hand pleasantly on my shoulder:

Stay, let us talk a little,” said he.

:

We remained some time after this together, alternately standing and walking about. He certainly spoke very feelingly and well he said there had been a disposition to find fault with his government, but he had done all that was in his power. He had built the new theatre, and formed the chaussée. He had established scientific schools; he had tried to reward merit in the distribution of public employments. The country owed him something; but he would have done much more if he had fallen on quieter times. He said that his part throughout had been one of kindness and conciliation; but he had not had a fair chance. The consuls would not communicate with him in a friendly way; or with each other. The Austrian authorities pulled one way, the Turks another, the allies also another. Everybody seemed to be at loggerheads without knowing why. At Bucarest he was accused of Austrian sympathies; elsewhere it was said he had not done enough for the protecting army. Now he was accused of being a Russian, now a Turk. The case was singular, and not agreeable !